Professor Jon Emery talks with Professor Willie Hamilton, co-chair of CanTest and a GP and lead of the DISCOVERY group in Exeter, Willie is also clinical lead for the 2015 NICE guidance, as well as a member of the Department of Health’s Policy Research Unit for cancer awareness, screening and early diagnosis.

Both are part of CanTest – a five year programme of funding from Cancer Research UK, where international primary care cancer researchers investigate ways of developing and implementing new and improved cancer diagnostic tests into GP surgeries.

Professor Hamilton discusses recently published Early detection of multiple myeloma in primary care using blood tests: a case–control study in primary care. This UK based, matched case-control study examined the combined predictive value of presenting symptoms and blood tests commonly used in primary care in order to find which are useful in suggesting/excluding a diagnosis of multiple myeloma. Using data from over 2,700 cases and more than 12,000 controls, the study found that plasma viscosity (PV) and ESR were better than C-reactive protein for ruling in/out myeloma.

Show notes available here http://pc4tg.com.au/research-round-up-december-2018-willie-hamilton/